Thursday, March 4, 2010

The article “An island is born” by Marisa Brook talks about how the island of Surtsey was created in 1960. What matters about this article to me is that this was an interesting article that relates to what I am learning in science class right now. How it is important to the world in that it could be a large break through for the scientific community because we can see how life begins on a newly formed island without much human contact. This also relates to education helping the scientific community by being able to learn how life forms, where it forms and how it forms to introduce to students. In 1960, a fishing boat was sailing and saw smoke rising from the water. They though it was another ship on fire so they sailed closer but it turned out it was an underwater volcano erupting. After 3 years of eruption the island was measured at 174 meters tall and about 2.8 square kilometers long. Following the eruptions, scientist closed the island off because they didn’t want anything to be brought to help out life there. Soon the scientist discovered various forms of plants and later found a bush on the island. They also learned that migrating birds were using the island for a resting spot. The island is still closed to the public and still doesn’t have many forms of life but it will and when it does, it will be a scientific breakthrough.